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Motor Brake for E-Z-GO RXV: Must Read

When E-Z-GO introduced its RXV model golf cart in 2008, it was a drastic departure from the “norm”, in the fact that it has no mechanical wheel brakes. Rather than use traditional wheel brakes, E-Z-GO elected to go with the inherent regenerative braking available with AC, coupled with a disk style motor brake pad located on the end of the motor. We recently had an RXV golf cart in our shop with serious problems to this brake disk, which nearly resulted in a serious accident for the driver.

Disk motor brake shoe is crumbling due to extreme heat.

For the record, we are located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC; therefore we have some very steep terrain to contend with. A local customer, whom we sold an EZGO RXV to a few years back called for a service visit following a serious brake issue.

Following several days of smelling a “burning brake” smell, the motor brake finally completely failed on the customer resulting in a collision with a nearby bush. Fortunately, they were driving on a flatter portion of the local course, instead of one of the more steep areas. If this had occurred in a steeper area, the collision and resulting damage could have been much worse.

As we understand, the motor brake on the EZGO RXV is controlled in an electromagnetic fashion. The circular shoe comes in contact with the brake disk when parking or when braking is needed. The signal to “brake” is controlled via a brake sensor and a throttle sensor on the brake / accelerator pedals respectively.

At some point, the motor brake disk shoe material had gotten so hot in this example, that it not only caused the shoe to become brittle and crumble, but also changed the entire color and temper of the metal casing around the brake system. The brake described is pictured below.

Anything mechanical or electrical, including this brake system can be subject to fail. But, brakes are not a system which should be ignored, or neglected due to the risk of serious injury and damage. In our initial inquiry to the customer, we were told that the cart wasn’t driven far after the “burning” smell started. However, in later conversations, it was discovered that the customer had been experiencing this for weeks leading up to the incident.

The bottom line is that a little bit of preventative maintenance goes a long way. If you skimp on the annual service visits with your local dealer, you do so at your own risk. As with any machinery, routine maintenance should be performed at least annually to ensure that everything is in proper working order.

5 thoughts on “Motor Brake for E-Z-GO RXV: Must Read”

I just stumbled on this thread from doing some research because I am having issues with a clients cart. I am not too familiar with the RXVs. I specialize mainly in Club Cars and Yamahas. Im just wondering why are the motor breaks overheating? My client was smelling something burning. I took off and took apart the motor break and found that it does have some blueing and the brake plate has heat cracks. the brake pad is a little over worn. I dont know what is causing the issue. Should i just replace the motor brake or is there other issues i should look for?

I think the bake pad material is just undersized for the heat produced by stopping the vehicle. Most golf carts have two pads per rear wheel, for a total of four shoes. It seems as the surface area of this pad is much smaller in area than the total surface area of the four pads on a typical mechanical brake set-up. Granted, some of the braking on the EZGO RXV vehicle is performed electronically which is controlled via the motor and the A/C controller. Their newer version of this brake which was introduced in mid-09, without the lever arm doesn’t seem to be any thicker, per say, but seems to be holding up better than the earlier one. Not much maintenance to be done of these brakes other than to just replace the assembly.

Unfortunately, the only solution on these brakes is replacement. EZGO now has a “new and improved” version of the brake which is used on later models and can be retrofitted to the earlier models. They brought is out in mid-2009, I think. We do carry the EZGO RXV, Mid-09-Up Motor Brake Assembly on our site.